


The Broken Coffee Maker

by darringtons



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-14 21:43:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11216841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darringtons/pseuds/darringtons
Summary: The point was, he’s dead on his feet and the coffee pot in his apartment is broken, and while he swore he would never be the kind of person who paid $4 for a cup of coffee, he knew that stuff in the lab hardly qualified as coffee.





	The Broken Coffee Maker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brionyjae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brionyjae/gifts).



> Writing a coffeeshop AU is so bizarre when you actually work in a coffeeshop…  
> So, I don’t actually read coffeeshop AUs (because, hello dayjob), so I have no idea what the common tropes are, but HERE GOES

Cisco Ramon didn’t used to rely on caffeine. He used to be able to get through days, if not weeks, without a cup of coffee or a can of red bull.

That was before university and STAR labs and having 300 papers to grade on top of his own work and –

The point was, he’s dead on his feet and the coffee pot in his apartment is broken, and while he swore he would never be the kind of person who paid $4 for a cup of coffee, he knew from experience that the stuff in the lab hardly qualified as coffee.

It was just one cup. Buy one cup of over-priced coffee from that place near campus, and then he’d buy a new coffee maker on the way home.

Jittery was the name of the best coffee shop at CCU, according to Caitlin. Cisco didn’t know what was so amazing about it, but it better be worth waiting in line… a long line. Cisco sighed as he did a headcount of the people ahead of him. 27 people. Who in their right mind waits in a line this long?

He didn’t remove himself from the line though, because right now he was exactly the type of person – the tired and desperate, that is.

He closed his eyes and prayed the line would move fast and then… it did. Before he knew it, he was about 15 people closer to the cashier, and there’s an unnaturally tall barista taking orders in advance.

“What can I get started for you?”

“Umm,” Cisco just stared at him for a moment. Crap. He hadn’t thought about what he was going to order.

“Dude, you look exhausted. I got you. Do you like your caffeine sweet or no?”

Cisco blinked a couple times in confusion. It was taking his brain entirely too long to catch up.

“Right, sweet it is. I’ll have something ready for you in just a minute,” the barista said, then disappeared freakishly fast. A few seconds later, he was back. He shot Cisco a smile and a wink before carrying on, taking orders from the couple behind him in line.

He watched the barista bounce back and forth between taking orders and making drinks for the next minute, before he reached the cashier, a young woman wearing a tired smile. Her nametag said _Iris_. “What was your order?” she asked.

“Umm.” Cisco had no idea.

“Coffee with a shot,” the other barista said, sliding a to-go cup toward him. “It’s called _The Flash_ ,” he told Cisco with a wry grin, like it was some kind of inside joke. And then he was gone again.

“Does he always move that fast?” Cisco asked the cashier.

“Yep,” she said with a pop. “They also call him _The Flash_. It’s his drink of choice, hence the name. Any snacks or pastries with your coffee?”

“Nah, that’ll be it.”

“$3.14”

He paid her and walked away with his coffee. He took a sip and, okay, it was just a cup of coffee, but it was damn good coffee. And it was just the jolt he needed to get going.

“Hey,” he said when the barista stopped moving for a second. “Just wanted to say thanks.”

“You like it?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Just what I needed,” he said with a smile. “Thanks again…” he glanced at his nametag and frowned. “Kendra?”

He looked confused for a second. “Oh! Yeah, no. The boss says we have to wear name tags at all times, and well… I kind of melted mine? Kendra’s not working right now, so, today I’m Kendra.” He looked over his shoulder as the cashier called out something. “Gotta go. See ya!” He jogged away before Cisco could catch is actual name.

 

 “What’s this?” Hartley asked when he walked into the lab. “You went to Jittery? I thought you didn’t believe in buying coffee by the cup. _Overpriced scam_ , you said, just last week.”

“My coffee maker is broken, and also fuck you, Hartley.”

 

His coffeemaker was still broken the next day.

“Same as yesterday, or something different?” the barista-whose-name-he-still-didn’t-know asked. (His nametag said _Felicity_ today.)

“Surprise me,” Cisco said.

“Any restrictions?” The Flash asked.

Cisco shook his head. “I trust you.”

And his trust was not misplaced, because whatever delicious $4 coffee goodness is in his hands two minutes later was worth every penny.

And he still had no idea what the Flash’s name was.

 

“Coffeemaker still broken?” Hartley asked.

“Don’t you have work to be doing?” Cisco shot back.

 

“That’s your fifth cup of Jittery coffee in as many days,” Caitlin said, smiling at him like she knew something that was supposed to be a secret.

“I know that. My coffeemaker is still broken.”

“I thought you said you were going to get a new one.”

“I’ve been a little busy,” Cisco said, a little too defensively. He cringed. Her smile grew. “Why are you giving me that look?”

“You sure it has nothing to do with that barista you’ve been flirting with?” she asked.

Cisco gaped in surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, recovering.

“Mmhmm. Sure.”

“No, seriously, why do you think I’ve been flirting with a barista? I get coffee because I need caffeine if I’m expected to work with Hartley all day. No barista flirting here.”

“Okay, maybe no flirting,” she said. “But I have it on good authority that you’ve been making bedroom eyes at him all week.”

Cisco groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Okay, yes, he’s cute. But there has been no flirting, I don’t even know his name. Where are you even getting your information from?!”

She shrugged. “Maybe you should ask him out.”

“Alright, it’s settled. You’re delusional,” he said, walking out of the room.

“His name is Barry, by the way!” Caitlin called after him.

 

Cisco got a late start, and it was almost noon before he entered Jittery, and it was… quiet. He’d grown accustomed to the long lines in the mornings. This was much nicer.

He looked around. Most of the tables were full of students chatting quietly or working on their laptops. Among them was Iris, hunched over her computer with a look of tired determination. Looking over her shoulder was The Flash – Barry.

Much to Cisco’s dismay, they looked pretty cozy. They made a damn cute couple.

Of course, Cisco had no real proof that they were together, but he’d suspected it for a little while now. They were more familiar with each other than most people were. And seeing them so close, even if it was totally innocent, seemed the confirmation.

Barry looked up, just noticing him, and grinned. He held up a finger and mouthed something that looked like ‘just a second’, then said something to Iris and pointing at her computer screen. A moment later, he stood upright, and waved Cisco over to the counter.

“We missed you this morning,” Barry said. “The usual?”

Well then. Apparently Cisco had been there often enough that he had a ‘usual’. Even if that usual was really a surprise-me-with-whatever.

“Yep,” Cisco confirmed. Barry hummed thoughtfully as he decided what flavors to surprise him with today. “So,” Cisco said. “You and Iris?” Damn him and his stupid mouth.

“Yeah?” Barry asked. “Oh! No. No, she’s my sister!”

Cisco’s spirits rose a little. And then. He looked back at Iris for a moment, then back to Barry. He furrowed his brow. “Sister?”

“Adoptive. My parents… well, it’s complicated. Joe adopted me when I was 11. So yeah, sister.” He handed Cisco a cup of iced coffee. “Enjoy!”

Cisco took a sip from the straw and hummed. “Best one yet.”

Barry’s grin grew wider.

Cisco wished he was the type of person who followed Caitlin’s suggestion to just ask him out. But he was just not that brave. And, more to the point, he’d worked retail before, however brief. He knew that the happy smile and the pleasing voice were part of the job; it was easy to misinterpret that as more than it was. Besides, asking someone in service out while they’re actively working was a weird kind of power play that Cisco definitely wasn’t into.

“Hey, Cisco?”

Cisco turned back. “Yeah?”

“Are you doing anything this weekend?”

Cisco shook his head. “Nothing important that I’m aware of. Why, what’s up?”

“Well, there’s that art and music festival downtown. I was thinking maybe you wanted to go. With me.” He started to babble.

Cisco laughed. If he ever thought there was a limit to how endearingly adorable and awkward Barry was, he had been wrong.

“So, that’s a no. I’m sorry. Oh god, eventually I’ll stop talking I swear.”

“Yes,” Cisco answered, putting his hand over Barry’s mouth to shut him up. “I would love to go with you.” He took his hand away, and jotted his number down on a napkin. He glanced at his watch. He was running _very_ late. “Text me,” he said with a smile, and then turned to leave once more. Out of the corner of his eye, he was pretty sure he saw Iris punch the air excitedly.

He never did buy that new coffeemaker.


End file.
